Reviews

“In a period of significant change in Britain, Clarke and Ramscar have outlined some of the key security challenges facing the United Kingdom in the coming decades. The questions raised in this book, as well as the authors’ call for a new emphasis on long-term strategic thought, merit our attention.”

Henry A. Kissinger

“The world is unstable and dangerous. Yet the UK’s sense of future purpose and direction is unclear. There is little consensus, indeed the country is divided. This exceptional book makes a compelling and in some respects surprising case for a strategic surge, an innovative national strategy to guide us through the post-Brexit era. The UK must find a route through a gathering storm, and fast. To do this we need some statesmen and some old-fashioned honest statecraft. If those who have our future in their hands are uncertain about what to do, it’s easy. Hire Mike Clarke and Helen Ramscar, fast.”

General The Lord Richards of Herstmonceux GCB, CBE, DSO, Chief of the Defence Staff, 2010-2013

“The authors brilliantly chart the road ahead to the Tipping Point: the Brexit end of a United Europe just as America’s “moral leadership” becomes a void, and China fills the gap. They tell us with striking insight how to survive and get to the other side.”

Lord Saatchi, Former Conservative Party Chairman

“’Tipping Point’ captures the core dilemma that faces Britain today: we once thought we knew who we were, how the world worked and our place in it – even if there were lean as well as better times – but now we have to understand that we are adrift and in peril. The political thinking, the instruments of power, and the alliances that kept Britain afloat for decades either no longer work or are running on fumes, and what lies ahead jeopardizes our security and prosperity unless major action is taken. Brexit is the prism through which this will be viewed, but Brexit is neither the cause nor the solution. Unless Britain now understands and accepts some uncomfortable truths, sets aside outmoded policy, capability and method, and invests leadership, energy and resources in resetting how it acts at home and on the world stage the prospects are poor. This book explains why and points to what must now be done.”

General Sir Richard Barrons, KCB CBE, Former Commander, Joint Forces Command and one of the Chiefs of Staff leading UK Armed Forces.

“ ‘It’s a good time to be a policy analyst, not so good to be a policy maker’; so said Professor Michael Clarke, just before he ended his tenure as Director General of the Royal United Services Institute in 2015. With this book he and his co-author Helen Ramscar, have taken a deep dive into the whirlpool of contemporary British policy making and come up with a real pearl…”

See here for the full review by Nick Watts, published in Defence Viewpoints.

“For, as Professor Michael Clarke and Helen Ramscar, two of Britain’s leading thinkers on defence strategy, argue in their new book Tipping Point: Britain, Brexit and Security in the 2020s, ‘a decade of public expenditure cuts…have left Britain talking a better international game than it plays’.”

“For many of us who operate global enterprises out of the United States, we have long looked to London as a gateway to Europe. With the recent election confirming that Boris Johnson will lead Britain out of Europe early in 2020, that once dependable pathway will be blocked and the future of American business’ relationship with Britain will hang in the balance. Tipping Point clearly explains the forces at play and the challenges facing Britain today. This understanding of global economic pressures, social forces and security vulnerabilities provides an valuable guide. Tipping Point is a must read for business leaders who seek to understand an evolving, and potentially, deteriorating Britain.

Thankfully, in layman’s language, experts Michael Clarke and Helen Ramscar have written a prescription for a restored, revitalized Britain. They call for the creation of a “strategic surge” in resources and the political will to stabilize Britain and give it the chance to return as a trusted partner in the wider world. I certainly hope Tipping Point is widely read by government leaders, business executives and anyone who wishes to understand Brexit, Britain and the future of European stability. More importantly, I hope the recommendations offered by Clarke and Ramscar are adopted. Much depends on it.